


Hermione Granger and the 'I'm sorry but I have to work with WHO?'

by highlyintelligentblonde



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Head Boy/Head Girl, It's a slight AU, Premise is still basically the same, They make a compromise ;), frenemies/acquaintances to friends to (eventual) lovers, the 2nd wizarding war didn't happen/Voldemort was defeated in the 1st
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-05-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18662644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/highlyintelligentblonde/pseuds/highlyintelligentblonde
Summary: Hermione's Head Girl, Draco's Head Boy- neither of them know the other is though. What could go wrong? ;)





	Hermione Granger and the 'I'm sorry but I have to work with WHO?'

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NuclearNik](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NuclearNik/gifts).



> Dedicated to @frecklesandbroomsticks! I was told she likes "8th year, Head Girl/boy, Co-workers. Really just the snarkier and sassier the better!" so I tried my best to fufill that!  
> Unbeta-d, so any and all mistakes are my own  
> (This is also my first published fanfic so hopefully it's not too bad!)

     

    Hermione Granger had never been more excited, yet nervous, for her first day of school. For as long as she could remember, she had been excited for the first days of school, and could count on one hand the number of first days she’d been nervous for- nursery school, year 1, and her first day at Hogwarts. But now? She was 16- almost 17 years old- about to start her last year at Hogwarts, an understandably bittersweet time, but also something she was accustomed to. She knew the school like the back of her hand, had a decent idea of what to expect, and could look forward to having a bit more freedom with her friends and how they spent their free time as 7th years. She knew Harry and Ron had several ideas of what they would be doing during their extra time, but she had a secret that may crush some of their hopes-she had been made Head Girl. This had caused her conflicting feelings about this school year- she had achieved one of her main goals (along with achieving almost all O’s on her OWLs, becoming a prefect in her 5th year, and being at the top of her class every year, despite the steep learning curve she had to overcome when she first started- which excited her, but not even knowing what was expected of her helped calm her nerves. One thing she had accepted, especially after befriending Harry Potter (and, to some extent, Ron Weasley) was that Murphy’s Law (anything that can happen will happen) had its greatest effect at Hogwarts- in the past 6 years she and her classmates had been attacked by a troll, a basilisk, a tree, a werewolf, and several teachers, endured the side-effects of the Tri-Wizard Tournament being held (for the first time in centuries) at their school, fought a few of the remaining Death Eaters in a part of the Ministry of Magic that may or may not have existed, and managed to survive all of those and (still) take (most of) their final exams.

            Even without all those experiences, Hermione preferred to have a bit more than a base expectation of what this year held so she could do her absolute best as Head Girl. How Harry and Ron hadn’t seen the badge when they all opened their final Hogwarts letters together at the Burrow only slightly surprised her: they weren’t the most observant people she knew, but she had made no effort to hide her shocked gasp and shriek, and both Ginny and Mrs. Weasley had congratulated her when they saw her holding it. Harry and Ron had been busy checking for any new school rules that had been added or removed that were noteworthy enough to be included in the letters.

            What did surprise her was that her best friends finally realized this after her explicit statement to them after they had gotten on the train:

            “Well, I’ll see you both shortly, I have to go find the Head Boy so we can start arranging the prefect’s train patrols.” She stood up, taking her robes and new Head Girl badge out of her bag. “Ron, remember to be in the prefect’s compartment by 11:15, I want to start patrols on time so we can help out first years and everyone as much as needed. Professor McGonagall specifically mentioned that we begin to prioritize helping the younger students while they’re on the train and have easy access to their prefects.”

            As she turned to open the door to their compartment, having put her robes on over her Muggle clothes and pinned her badge to the robes, she heard Ron whisper to Harry.

            “You know, you’d think that I’d be used to her bossiness after knowing her for this long, but it still gets me. I don’t know why she’s in such a hurry to get to the front, unless she really wants to try to suck up to the new Head Boy and Girl. I almost feel sorry for her, not getting Head Girl, I’d have thought she’d be Dumbledore’s first choice, wouldn’t you Harry?”

            Harry was wisely holding his tongue, not wanting to be caught in yet another fight between Hermione and Ron, especially as he had just noticed the bright badge on Hermione’s robes, proclaiming her Head Girl.

            “Uhhhh Ron…” he began, not quite knowing where or how to start.

            “And who does she think she is, telling me when to get to the front compartment. She’s not in charge of me, we’ve been prefects for the samenumber of years, and I know when I’m supposed to get there. You’d think she knows I’m capable of doing things by now.” Ron continued, cutting Harry off without realizing that Hermione was, in fact, still in their compartment, listening to his tirade.

            “Well, Ronald, if you had bothered to pay attention to anything beyond your hopes that some rules were changed-which shouldn’t matter as you are a prefect and supposed to model them for the younger students- you would have noticed that I was, in fact, made Head Girl, thanks to all the hard work I’ve ben putting forth since I stepped foot on Platform 9 & ¾. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve wasted enough time as it is, so I’ll see you in 10 minutes. Harry, I’ll see you later, please try to stay out of trouble.” She snapped, although the last part seemed to be somewhat endearing, and walked away.

            “Congratulations Hermione, I really am happy for you..” Harry called out as she walked away, looking back at Ron after she waved her thanks to him.

            “Oh Ron…” Harry sighed. The year hadn’t even officially started, but it seemed to be off to a dramatic start already.

* * *

            In a compartment a few cars away, Draco Malfoy had just finished changing into his robes, ignoring Crabbe & Goyle blathering on about who knows what and Blaise and Theo playing ‘fuck marry kill’ with various classmates from each house, as well as some of the teachers and staff at the school, ready to have a break from his friends but not ready to deal with the prefects and whichever suck-up from his year their whack-ass headmaster had decided to make Head Girl. He only hoped that it would be someone bearable; he knew it wouldn’t be another Slytherin, but maybe it would be someone semi-decent like Susan Bones or one of the Patil twins. Salazar help him if it was Granger. Their relationship had changed somewhat since they both started at Hogwarts, he had realized his prejudice as he grew up and she had become slightly less of a know-it-all swot. At this point they definitely weren’t friends, still quite far from it, but they got along decently enough. However, he definitely would prefer to _not_ spend most of the year having to deal with her.

            As he strode down the corridor towards the front of the train, he thought about how his friends and parents had reacted to him being Head Boy. His parents had both been thrilled, of course, as he carried on the family tradition, although he knew if he had somehow become Quidditch captain and Head Boy he would be the first Malfoy- first Hogwarts student, possibly- in hundreds of years to achieve that honor. Not even Harry Potter, the boy who lived, Dumbledore’s favourite student, had been made a prefect. Draco had been slightly upset at first about being made prefect rather than Quidditch captain, but now that he was Head Boy he was over it. He’d made his family proud by continuing their legacy, and no one could take that away from him.

            Lost in thought, he didn’t realize that he had reached the front of the train and automatically entered the Prefect’s compartment until an all-too familiar voice called out:

            “Hello Malfoy, thank you for showing up early, I’m glad that someone else actually cares about punctuality. I was worried I’d be the only one here to make sure that everything was set up before the prefects and Head Boy got here, but most things are ready now. Probably largely due to house elf labor I’d imagine.” Oh Lord, was Granger really going to be going off on yet another tirade about the importance of house elf rights? Better shut that down before it started.

            “Of course I’m here early, I had a similar plan in mind, and I don’t know who the Head Girl is, so how am I supposed to trust them to do a good job of getting all this organized?” he replied, smirking. “I’d be surprised by you being here so early, but you always were strangely on time to everything. So, any guesses on who the Head Boy is?” He was going to have such a great time messing with her. As much as he hated to admit it, it was almost a pity that she didn’t make Head Girl.

            No sooner had he thought that then he glanced down at her robes, coming to the realization that..

            “YOU were made Head Boy?” Granger exclaimed at the same time that he realized that she was made Head Girl. “There is no way that Dumbledore & McGonagall expect us to be able to work closely together. We may be on better terms than we started at,”

            “Understatement of the year” Draco coughed.

            “BUT,” she carried on, “even with us being the top students in our class, I’m still surprised that they have _that_ much faith in us. Especially as I highly doubt that Ron will listen to anything you say, and I don’t expect some of your prefects to pay attention to anything I ask them to do, no matter how I ask. I know we really haven’t had a great relationship, but I’m willing to compromise if you are.”

            Draco grinned.  The Golden Girl of Hogwarts was asking _him_ to compromise? Now this was a chance he couldn’t pass up, no matter what her terms were.

            “Say I agree to this compromise. What are your terms? What do you get out of this hypothetical agreement?”

            “Besides just being able to show Professors Dumbledore & McGonagall that I’m capable of being a great Head Girl? And living up to the standards that I set for myself when I first got my Hogwarts letter? Just a hopefully calm, successful school year for once, so not too much.” Hermione looked curiously at him. “What would you want out of this, if it comes to be?”

            “Well, like you said. I want to show Dumbledore and the rest of the school that I’m not the person they expect me to be. An added bonus would be seeing the look on the Weasel’s face when he finds out that the two of us are going to be working together- and technically in charge of him.” Draco replied evenly. “Although, since I won’t have as much time to play Quidditch, could I suggest that we raise the stakes a bit? Make it into some sort of game?”

            If Granger had any immediate opposition to that, it was not visible on her face, Draco noted.

            “Well, it would depend on what type of game it is, and what the terms are. I can never say no to a game of strategy, which is what I’m imagining this to be.” Malfoy had managed to pique her interest, and she could only wonder what he meant.

            “Some sort of strategy, yes. It could be fun to see how everyone, especially the Weasel and all our friends react to seeing us suddenly getting along. You know how they typically see us fighting and arguing, and I certainly didn’t tell them about the unofficial apologies and truce we made at the end of 5th year. Our strategy would just be act friendly, like nothing major ever happened between us, and every time one you or I surprise one of our friends or colleagues, we get a point. At the end of the term, whoever has the most points wins a prize of their choice.” Draco said. “Does that work for you?”

            “That sounds like a great idea,” Granger agreed, smiling. “My only condition is that the prize can be renegotiated if the loser finds it too unappealing.”

            “Fine by me, but if you hadn’t realized by now, _I play to win, Granger._ ”  


End file.
